Looking back: When childbirth was considered women's work

It seems, without generalising of course, that today’s young mums spend their spare time, when not looking after their offspring, or back at work, either meeting friends in the coffee or wine bar, at the gym or having their hair or nails done!

How times have changed from the seventies when our socialising was a visit to the baby clinic, and we had no means of communication with our friends other than landline telephones. No WhatsApp or Facebook. How did we manage?

Having a baby on Christmas Day was not a good idea. Not only was the hospital full of visitors, but the atmosphere of good will to all men wasn’t really felt by me when I was taken down to the operating theatre mid-morning. The two jolly porters were holding sprigs of mistletoe to accost any nurse as she walked past them, and the surgeon getting ready to perform a Caesarean operation was possibly not happy at being called out on Christmas morning.

But all ended well, and I became the proud mother of a beautiful baby girl.

Men then didn’t always relish the idea of being present at the birth. Even today 14% choose not to. Prince William chose to stay away as did chef Gordon Ramsay who said publicly that he thought his sex life would suffer had he witnessed his wife in that situation!

Almost like Victorian times when many couples, even though they may have had umpteen children, had never seen each other naked! And anyway, childbirth, like childcare was considered women’s work, with men pacing up and down in the waiting room!

Breast was considered best during the 1970s with a regimented four-hour feeding routine. Although considered the natural thing to do, you could feel inadequate if it didn’t happen straight away for you and at a time when you were very emotional anyway it was upsetting to be made to feel selfish. Over the years since, fashions in feeding have come and gone but no longer are young mums made to feel criminal if they can’t feed their baby themselves.

One thing that was very different then, was the fact that everything for the baby from nappies to baby toiletries were provided for you in hospital.

Once home, you found that your life had changed for ever! The 70s were a time when men were starting to play a more active role in childcare, unlike their fathers. Being in a permanent state of exhaustion, it was wonderful to get some support. Your mother was invaluable, even though you weren’t altogether happy with some of her well-meaning advice. Leaving baby to cry, potty-training from birth or dipping the dummy in whiskey!

Disposable nappies were not in common use then, and so we used terry towelling squares which were soaked in a bucket of Napisan solution, smelling dreadful.

My pride and joy was my Silver Cross coach-built pram, even though it took up most of the space in the hall, later replaced with the collapsible ‘baby buggy’.

In later years when we had grandchildren and were faced with the intricacies of the modern pushchairs, we realised that things had certainly moved on, when you almost needed a degree in Mechanical Engineering to open them.

But generally, I suppose baby care has become much simpler, and if that means that young mothers can meet their friends in the wine bar, good luck to them, I say!!